Towards
the end of the 16th century the practice arose of regular
communication by letter between. the magistrates of the larger
towns and the seat of government in Edinburgh. After the accession
of James VI. to the throne of England,the necessity for an
ordered method of intercourse between the Scottish capital
and London became urgent, but the plans adopted involved extraordinary
delay, for it not often happened that there was an interval
of two months between the dispatch of a letter and the receipt
of a reply.

Such
a leisurely fashion of transacting business soon grew intolerable,
and in 1635 a system of relays was instituted which enabled
the journey between the two cities to be accomplished in three
days, the charge for a letter being 8 pence. The service was
reorganized in 1662, and in 1711 the postal establishments
of the United Kingdom, hitherto conducted independently in.
each country, were consolidated into one. When this reform
was effected the cost of a letter to London was reduced to
6 pence.

Three
years before this date a local penny post had been provided
in Edinburgh by private enterprise, carried on by a staff
of seven persons, and after the success of this effort had
been demonstrated the concern was taken over by the post office.
Subsequently postal business stagnated, mainly owing to the
greatly increased charges, until the system of uniform penny
postage came into operation.